Look what I did today

The weather was gorgeous
It was wintery but lovely blue skies and not too cold

me and Skye

Being on horseback you really 'see' the countryside

I'd forgotten how nice it is. And me and my sister-in-law had a lovely chat too! Thank you Ally :)

Up at 4am to start our journey back to the boat

My other home......but it's flippin cold!

Beautiful Cornwall. But Mike hasn't taken his coat off since he got home.....

my favourite Cafe

our favourite cafe

my mum

Back to the boat on Tuesday.

Don't fight it

Mike remarked to me that whilst leaving for the crossing the other day Phantom Lady put him in mind of his childhood pony that dragged its heels mutinously all the way out and as soon as it was turned for home galloped joyously forward.

Sometimes you just have to go with the signs, eh? (sigh)

Mike has got nothing to prove - being the veteran of no less than four previous atlantic crossings - and I am slowly recovering from my crushing disappointment (!) at not being able to blog from more exotic places :)

aaaw let us in - it's freezing out here!

Meanwhile, I have spent the whole day in bed  (with cats for company) trying to shake off this cold which has now turned into a horrible hacking cough.

never far from my laptop...

Mother has brought tea and homemade cake - yum! but it's lonely on my own... :(
Hopefully Mike will be back in a couple of days when his backache has improved.

In the immortal (?) words of Ronan Keating... 'life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it' !!

some things are just not meant to be.......

Well. We won't be going to the caribbean this year!
After a few days hanging around waiting for some wind down at the bottom of the island it's now gone southwesterly (and forecast to increase to 30 knots in a few days time!)
That, coupled with the fact that Mike just doesn't have a 'good feeling' about it means we will be staying in the Canaries for a while yet.
The cat was also unimpressed. Mike said one night she let out the wierdest, loud, long cry he has ever heard.....that spooked him!
So anyways, he's back on Pontoon R - subject to gentle ribbing from the other occupants - and the cat is happy again.
Unfortunately, Mike has now done something serious to his back. Wasn't exerting himself particularly, just twisted it wrong whilst leaning over the stern to adjust some ropes.
He could hardly get his words out between the 'oohs' and 'aaahs' and 'aaarghs' whilst on the phone to me this morning :(
Luckily we have got strong painkillers in our medical kit. Just as well it didn't happen whilst crossing the atlantic alone eh?

No he's not......

After a night of bobbing around with 1 knot of wind and no more forecast in the near future Mike has decided to anchor off Puerto Mogan at the south of the island. He said it was like being at anchor last night just drifting on a flat calm sea - 11 miles all night!

Hopefully things will pick up in a day or two......

He's gone!!

witness....

 My lovely friend Sarah went to take the departure photos - and he'd gone!!!

Oh well.....

He's phoned me about six times today whilst he's still got a mobile signal.
There's not much wind so it's slow going.
The cat's a bit unsettled.

Meanwhile, back home - the boiler is fixed and I've had my long awaited bath.

the other cats

note scarf and big jumper!

Hurry up Mike the tan's fading already!!

So, here I am at home. The bloody boiler is broken so there's no hot water or heating :(
The repairman isn't coming til tomorrow.....
And its pouring down with rain.
At least the cats are pleased to see me!

Mike is all ready to depart but unfortunately the wind in the Canaries has gone south at 20 knots today so he decided to delay his departure til the morning.

He has his satphone with him for the trip so he can update me daily (at great expense) but did you know that you can also send SMS messages to satphones via email - free of charge! Yep you can.
So, anyone who wants to offer words of encouragement to Mike along the way please go to www.iridium.com and click on the 'send satellite message' tab (top right). This opens a form in which you can enter up to 160 characters of text and send it off to his phone - at no charge!! (and no limit to the number of messages you can send)
The satphone number is 8816 31589462 (you need to put this in to send the text message)

!!!!!

Au revoir Las Palmas

I'm off to the airport in a couple of hours.

Feeling a bit 'delicate' this morning.....

I is tired.....

And the cat wasn't even at the party!!

the usual suspects

Mike is STILL shopping. Maybe he's planning on taking a few crew after all......just waiting til I've gone so he can smuggle them aboard :)

last minute maintenance - checking the bilge pumps

wrecked.....

She's gonna kill me..... :)

Haircut anyone??

This is my friend Sarah who I'm gonna miss (and luv forever 'cos she lent me her hoover!)

Actually it's been nice here in Las Palmas and both Mike and I agree it's a fine place to spend a winter on a boat (the marinas cheap and the weathers good).

We will be back no doubt.

busy, busy, busy.....

So much to do..... so little time

the marina is still teeming with yachts

I'm surprised by how many boats are still leaving every day to go to the caribbean or south america. Lots of Germans and French yachts.

HOW far??????  (gulp)

our sophisticated laundry system

Well, it's one step up from beating it on a rock in the river! And at 8 Euros a load in the launderette I'm more than happy to do it myself.

errr, what have I let myself in for now........

HappyHappyHappy!

We've finally decided what we're doing.
Mike is going to sail across the atlantic alone (what we yotties call 'single-handed' and what you normal people call 'mad')

'the crew'

I'm flying home on Saturday for a few weeks of cold and miserable just so as I appreciate it when I get to the caribbean :)

Mike likes a challenge....

The captain reckons he should do the crossing of a tad under 3,000 miles in about 19 days or less. But he has got enough food for about two months!!! (he loves shopping)

beans, beans and more beans (glad I won't be on board!)

Scabby helps with the provisioning

Everything is getting a good wash and scrub this week and the boat is being tidied up with all our junk being neatly stowed away.

Our satphone (very important)

Mike will phone me every day via satellite phone to basically say he's ok and for me to give him the weather forecast. He also has Falmouth Coastguard on speed-dial !! The boat also carries an emergency GPS positioning beacon known as an EPIRB which activates either manually or when immersed in water. This continually transmits your position to the emergency rescue services when set off.

In other news.....
Alan and companion on 'Life O'Reilly' have reached the Cape Verde Islands (about 800 miles south of here) where they have gone in for repairs to their steering. Mike may beat them to the caribbean yet!!

This is all your fault, I can't believe you sunk the boat!

Update - especially for Dad

We've moved over to the other side of the marina today. Don't know why we got stuck out on our own originally....must have been no space on the visitors pontoons. Anyway, this is far more sociable :) and we don't get the traffic noise over here either. (My abiding memories of Las Palmas are going to be traffic and dog poo!)

Mike shows how it's done

Over the last week or so we have been getting around on the buses, or gua guas as they call them here (pronounced wah-wah). But we made the terrible mistake of getting the bus down to the south of the island. We caught the wrong one (the slow one instead of the express) and it took about three hours!! When we finally got there we had a ten minute walk around and it was time to go back....

Las Palmas Theatre

Las Canteras Beach

There are two beaches in Las Palmas city. The one by the marina and anchorage is Las Caravaneros and the one over the other side is Las Canteras which is 3.5 km long and protected by a stone reef which means the water is crystal clear. Mike loves the beach and is thinking of getting a body board to do a bit of surfing on the reef break.

note the temperature!

The big news is I am going home for a couple of weeks. Very excited!! Would be even more excited if Mike were to sail the boat over to the caribbean whilst I'm gone ha ha (hint, hint)

sounds dodgy....

I'm saying nothing!!!

Oh no!

Just when you think it's all over..... it's bloody Christmas again here tonight!!
Yep, that's right. It's called Three Kings Day (or something) tomorrow and Epiphany tonight and it's when all the Spanish give and receive their presents.
Cue lots of parades and fireworks and music etc etc

Leaving Las Palmas

No, we're not yet....

Alan & Mystery Companion brave the atlantic under their new bimini

but 'Life O'Reilly' is.

They left on New Years Day and Mike got up to see them off but I had a massive hangover so stayed in bed....

David & Sarah our friends from 'Cape'

Had a good gathering on the pontoon on New Year's Eve - organised mostly by Dave & Sarah. Lots of drunken merriment, eating and singing. Mike was sent off early for disgracing himself by drunkenly launching into the marina and I think he narrowly missed midnight.......by about the same margin he missed the rocks actually :)

the engine took a bit of persuading...

We relaunched the dinghy today after Mike repaired the many punctures it had. It's pretty much had it really and we should get a new one but feel disinclined to spend the money it would cost. We have certainly had our moneys-worth from this one and would recommend the Caribe to anyone.

on the road again! (not looking very happy is he...)

chicken curry for tea - yum yum